System and computer program product for facilitating customs planning and clearance

ABSTRACT

Facilitating customs planning and clearance including creating in an international customs server, in response to a signal communicated through a client device coupled for data communications through at least one internet connection to the international customs server, a master customs planning record; creating a related customs planning record wherein the related customs planning record is related to the master customs planning record; calculating duty on the goods described in the related customs planning record; storing the amount of the calculated duty in the related customs planning record; incrementing the total amount of duty stored in the duty total field in the master customs planning record; submitting, to the destination country, payment of the duty; creating, in dependence upon the related customs planning record, a customs declaration form for a destination country; and submitting the customs declaration form to a customs declaration forms database for the destination country.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of and claims priorityfrom U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/915,438, filed on Jul. 26,2001.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of the invention is methods and systems for facilitatinginternational travel, and more particularly, methods and systems forfacilitation of customs planning.

2. Description of Related Art

Customs regulations govern the movement of goods into and out of acountry. With advances in technology, the world is becoming a smallerplace. The quantity of goods moved in international trade has grownphenomenally in the recent past. Crossing borders with goods, however,entails adherence to different sets of rules and regulations fordifferent nations. Every international traveler has to pass throughcustoms checks and these checks are some of the most irritating andtime-consuming aspects of international customs planning and clearance.The emergence of new technologies in the form of wired or wireless datacommunications has offered new opportunities for improved traveling andcustoms clearance experiences while complying with customs regulations.

Goods can be excludable or dutiable for many reasons, many of which arevery difficult to analyze in advance. In the United States, for example,at the time of this writing, there are import restrictions regardingorigins of goods, as for example, goods from Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran,Iraq, Libya, Serbia, and Sudan. There are restrictions on categories ofgoods, as for example, fish and wildlife products, food and plantproducts, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, ammunitions, medicines, andnarcotics. There are trademark and copyright limitations on imports ofcounterfeit goods.

Even professional importers find it difficult to import goods withoutviolating customs regulations. The U.S. Department of Commerce has aprogram, known as the “Informed Compliance Strategy,” designed toimprove voluntary compliance with U.S. customs regulations. The programis founded upon the observations, among other things, that (1) more thansixty percent of U.S. import value is attributable to the top 1000importers, (2) about twenty percent of imports fail to comply with U.S.customs regulations, and (3) most such failures to comply are honest.The U.S. Customs Service's administrative regulations known as the“Customs Valuation Encyclopedia,” subtitled “An Informed CompliancePublication,” in its January 2001 version, is 452 pages in length. Evenhonest, professional, expert importers cannot figure out how to importgoods into the United States without violating customs regulations.

The difficulty of complying with customs regulations is compoundedacross many countries, and is essentially unmanageable for typicalinternational travelers who are not professional importers. Typicalinternational travelers are presented with customs declarations forms onboard aircraft, trains, or ships at sea a short time before arriving ata customs check point in an air terminal, port, or border crossing. Forexample, in arriving in the United States, travelers are typicallyrequired to complete a Declaration, U.S. Customs Form CF-6059B, and, forgoods that the traveler shipped separately, a Declaration ofUnaccompanied Articles, U.S. Customs Form CF-255. The forms make nopretense of providing full explanations of the customs regulations. Evenif the forms did fully explain importability and dutiability of goodsdeclared, it would be too late. The goods are already purchased, in thepossession of the traveler, and the plane, ship, or train is alreadynearing the customs check point.

The scope and application of such customs rules and regulations,moreover, varies considerably from nation to nation. It is verydifficult, given present information availability and systems quality,to know with certainty in advance of arriving in a port of entry, forexample, whether goods will be excluded or subjected to duty. Travelerscan easily find their plans frustrated or ruined. It is a particulardifficulty that the duties to be paid upon declared goods are not knownto traveling importers, if ever, until just before arriving at a port ofentry. Moreover, there is no usefully organized way in the prior art fortraveling importers to know the cumulative effect, in terms of duties,of importing various quantities of goods among one or more countries.Moreover, there is no way in the prior art for traveling importers topay customs duties in advance of arrival at a port of entry.

For all these reasons, therefore, there is an ongoing need forimprovements in methods and systems for, and the experience of,international customs planning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the invention include methods for facilitating customsplanning and clearance including creating in an international customsserver, in response to a signal communicated through a client devicecoupled for data communications through at least one internet connectionto the international customs server, a master customs planning record;creating in an international customs server a related customs planningrecord, wherein the related customs planning record is related through aforeign key field to the master customs planning record; calculatingduty on the goods described in the related customs planning record;storing the amount of the calculated duty in the duty amount field inthe related customs planning record; and incrementing, by the amount ofthe calculated duty stored in the duty amount field in the relatedcustoms planning record, the total amount of duty stored in the dutytotal field in the master customs planning record.

In typical embodiments, the master customs planning record includes amaster identification field in which is stored a master identity codefor the master customs planning record, and a duty total field in whichis stored the total amount of duty to be paid on goods identified inrelated customs planning records. In typical embodiments, the mastercustoms planning record further includes an importer identificationfield in which is stored an identity of an importer.

In typical embodiments, the related customs planning record includes theforeign key field in which is stored the master identity code of themaster customs planning record; one or more description fieldsdescribing the goods for import to a destination country, thedestination country having an identity; a duty amount field in which isstored an amount of duty to be paid on the goods; and the identity ofthe destination country. The description fields used for describinggoods for import in the related customs planning records include a textdescription field in which is stored a textual description of the goodsfor import, a category field in which is stored a code identifying thecategory of the goods for import, and a quantity field in which isstored the quantity of goods for import. In typical embodiments, therelated customs planning record further includes an importeridentification field in which is stored an identity of an importer.

In typical embodiments, each related customs planning record representsa prospective importation into a destination country of a quantity ofgoods of a category. Typical embodiments include creating, in dependenceupon the related customs planning record, a customs declaration form fora destination country and submitting the customs declaration form to acustoms declaration forms database for the destination country. Typicalembodiments also include submitting, to the customs service of thedestination country, payment of the duty.

In typical embodiments, client devices include kiosks at an airport,workstations installed in the back of passenger chairs in airplanes,personal computers, and hand-held personal data administrators. In manyembodiments, at least one internet connection is wireless. In typicalembodiments, the international customs server is a software applicationinstalled and operating on one or more computers, the softwareapplication further comprising software routines storing and retrievingrelated customs planning records, validating goods described in relatedcustoms planning records against customs regulations stored in customsregulations databases, and submitting to customs databases declarationforms prepared in dependence upon the related customs planning records.

Typical embodiments include creating in dependence upon the relatedcustoms planning record a customs declaration form for the destinationcountry further comprises reading customs data from a related customsplanning record and inserting the read customs data into a declarationform. In typical embodiments, submitting the customs declaration form toa customs declaration forms database for the destination country furthercomprises communicating the form as electronic data communicationsthrough at least one internet connection.

Typical embodiments include validating goods described in a relatedcustoms planning record. In typical embodiments, validating the relatedcustoms planning records includes comparing the goods described bycustoms data in the related customs planning record to customsregulations governing the goods described by the customs data in therelated customs planning record and reporting to an importer through theclient device a result of the comparison. Typical embodiments includestoring the result of the comparison in the related customs planningrecord. In typical embodiments, the related customs planning recordcomprises a related customs planning record form having a structure,wherein the structure of the related customs planning record form isdependent upon customs regulations.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustratedin the accompanying drawing wherein like reference numbers representlike parts of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram of various exemplary aspects andembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram of exemplary embodiments illustrating ause case.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of various exemplary aspects andembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a data structure diagram of exemplary embodiments of mastercustom planning records and related customs planning records.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Introduction

The present invention is described primarily in terms of methods forfacilitating customs planning and clearance. Persons skilled in the art,however, will recognize that any computer system that includes suitableprogramming means for operating in accordance with the disclosed methodsalso falls well within the scope of the present invention.

Suitable programming means include any means for directing a computersystem to execute the steps of the method of the invention, includingfor example, systems comprised of processing units and arithmetic-logiccircuits coupled to computer memory, which systems have the capabilityof storing in computer memory, which computer memory includes electroniccircuits configured to store data and program instructions, programmedsteps of the method of the invention for execution by a processing unit.The invention also may be embodied in a computer program product, suchas a diskette or other recording medium, for use with any suitable dataprocessing system.

Embodiments of a computer program product may be implemented by use ofany recording medium for machine-readable information, includingmagnetic media, optical media, or other suitable media. Persons skilledin the art will immediately recognize that any computer system havingsuitable programming means will be capable of executing the steps of themethod of the invention as embodied in a program product. Personsskilled in the art will recognize immediately that, although most of theexemplary embodiments described in this specification are oriented tosoftware installed and executing on computer hardware, nevertheless,alternative embodiments implemented as firmware or as hardware are wellwithin the scope of the present invention.

DEFINITIONS

In this specification, the terms “field,” “data element,” and“attribute” are used as synonyms, referring to individual elements ofdigital date. Aggregates of data elements are referred to as “records”or “data structures.” Definitions of complex data structures thatinclude member methods, functions, or software routines in addition todata elements are referred to as “classes.” Instances of complex datastructures are referred to as “objects” or “class objects.”

The terms “client,” “client device,” and “device” are used as synonymsin this specification, referring to any device capable of accessing aserver through a network. Examples of client devices are personalcomputers, special purpose devices that are client, internet-capablepersonal data organizers, and others that will occur to those of skillin the art. Various embodiments of client devices are capable of wiredand/or wireless network access. The use as a client device of anyinstrument capable of accessing a server through a network is wellwithin the present invention.

The term “network” is used in this specification to mean any networkedcoupling for data communications. Examples of networks useful with theinvention include intranets, extranets, internets, local area networks,wide area networks, and other network arrangements as will occur tothose of skill in the art. The use of any networked coupling from clientdevices to one or more content servers is well within the scope of thepresent invention.

“World Wide Web,” or more simply “the web,” refers to the well-knownsystem of internet protocol (“IP”) servers that support speciallyformatted documents, documents formatted in a language called HTML forHyperText Markup Language. The term “web” is used in this specificationalso to refer to any server or connected group or interconnected groupsof servers that implement the HyperText Transport Protocol, “HTTP,” insupport of URLs and HTML documents, regardless whether such servers orgroups of servers are coupled to the World Wide Web as such.

“Duty” is the amount of money an importer pays on items coming fromanother country. Duty is a kind of tax or tariff collected on importedgoods.

“Dutiable” describes items on which duty is required to be paid. Mostitems have specific duty rates, which are determined by a number offactors, including where the importer acquired the item, where it wasmade, and what it is made of.

To “declare” means to tell a customs official officer about any itemacquired abroad that an importer wishes to bring into a country. Mostcustoms declarations are written; some are oral. For example, importerstypically are required to declare alterations made in a foreign countryto a suit the importer already owned, and importers are typicallyrequired to declare any gifts acquired in other countries. The officialcustoms forms described in this specification generally are forms in thenature of customs declarations, sometime referred to simply as “customsforms,” “declaration forms,” or “declarations.”

An “importer” is a person responsible for importing, or sometimesexporting, goods through customs. In this specification, the term“importer” is used generally to refer to a person responsible for movinggoods through customs, whether the motion is an export or an import.Importers include owners of goods, purchasers of goods, consignees ofshipments or merchandise, and persons holding import licenses or exportlicenses when such licenses are required by the customs regulations ofany country.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to FIG. 1, a first aspect of the invention is seen embodiedas a system (100) for facilitating international customs planning andclearance. The illustrated embodiment comprises an international customsserver (160) where the international customs server itself includesmeans for creating and storing in response to signals (107) communicatedthrough client devices (104) customs planning records (122). Theillustrated embodiment includes means for creating (160), in response tosignals (107) communicated through client devices (104) customs planningrecords (122) to be stored within an international customs server (160).The client devices in typical embodiments, as in the embodiment shown inFIG. 1, are coupled for data communications through an internet (105) tothe international customs server (160). The international customs serveris means for creating customs planning records in that the server is acollection of computer programs installed and operating upon one or morecomputers including computer processors and computer memory. In theillustrated embodiment, the international customs server itselfcomprises customs planning records (122), customs planning record forms(118), customs regulations (114), and declaration forms (162).

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the customs regulations are customs rulesand regulations, organized by country, governing import and export ofgoods to and from countries. The customs planning record forms are datastructures containing data elements identifying and setting forthinformation pertinent to customs clearance in destination countries. Thecustoms planning record forms are defined in dependence upon the customsregulations.

In the illustrated embodiment, the customs planning records are datastructures that identify and describe a particular importation of goodsinto a destination country, an event of international customs planningand clearance upon one occasion for an importer. The structure of thecustoms planning records, that is, the data elements within the customsplanning records, are derived from the customs planning record forms(118). In the illustrated embodiment, the declaration forms (162) areofficial declaration forms prepared on-line within the internationalcustoms server using information entered by an importer into a customsplanning record.

The system embodiment as shown in FIG. 1 is capable of preparingdeclaration forms (162) on-line and forwarding them electronically to acustoms database (148) in a destination country. In typical embodiments,the electronic forwarding is accomplished via an internet (147).Declaration forms in a destination country's declaration forms databaseare available for use by customs personnel through customs workstations(152). Upon import of goods into a destination country, in typicalembodiments, a customs workstation is capable of forwarding a completedand approved electronic customs form to a central or national customsdatabase (154), such as, for example, the one known in the United Statesas “ACS,” the Automated Commercial System that the United States uses totrack, control, and process all commercial imports. As of this writing,the example ACS is scheduled in the United States for a massive upgradeknown as “ACE,” the Automated Commercial Environment.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, the client devices (104)can be wireless devices or they can be coupled electronically to theinternational customs server. The client devices in various embodimentsof the invention include workstations in kiosks at airports,workstations installed in the backs of passenger chairs in airplanes,personal computers, and hand-held personal data administrators. Personsskilled in art will realize that any device capable of functioning as aclient or terminal to computer application software comprising a server,any device capable of supporting an internet connection, any devicecapable of supporting a web client or browser in client-serverenvironments or the environment of the World Wide Web is useful as aclient device within the scope of the present invention. In fact, thereare many different kinds of such devices that will occur to those ofskill in the art, and all of them useful as described are well withinthe scope of the invention.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a further first aspect of the invention is seenas methods for facilitating international customs planning andclearance. A first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 includes creating,in response to a signal (120) communicated through a client devicecoupled for data communications via an internet to an internationalcustoms server (160), a customs planning record (122) to be storedwithin the international customs server. The illustrated embodimentincludes also creating (136) in dependence upon the customs planningrecord, a customs declaration form (162) for the destination country.The illustrated embodiment further includes submitting (164) the customsdeclaration form to a customs declaration forms database (148) for thedestination country.

In typical embodiments, customs planning records (122) comprise customsplanning record forms (118), wherein the customs planning record forms(118) are dependent (144) upon customs regulations (114). Morespecifically, in order for the customs data in the customs planningrecords to be used, as it eventually is intended in typical embodiments,for creating declaration forms, the customs planning records record datapertinent to the customs declaration forms of the destination countryfor import of particular goods for a particular importer.

For example, a purchasing agent, a business traveler, a citizen andresident of the U.S. who is returning from a purchasing trip in theUnited Kingdom will typically wish to create and submit as a customsdeclaration form a United States Customs Form CF-6059B. The conclusionthat the pertinent form is a CF-6059B depends upon customs regulationsfor the United States stored in a customs regulations database as partof an international customs server. The customs planning record createdfor this example American returning with goods purchased in GreatBritain will typically therefore be formulated to include the dataneeded to create a U.S. Customs Form CF-6059B, including for example,countries of origin and categories of goods sought to be imported intothe United States.

This is the sense in which, in typical embodiments, customs planningrecords (122) comprise customs planning record forms (118), wherein thecustoms planning record forms (118) have structures that are dependentupon customs regulations. And as shown in FIG. 2, in embodiments of thekind illustrated, if the example American is taken as the importer(102), then when the importer (102) requests (108) a customs planningrecord, the international customs server retrieves (116) from among thecustoms planning record forms (118) a customs planning record formhaving data elements appropriate to import of goods from England to theUnited States, and provides a copy of the customs planning record form,which, after the traveler provides the information comprising the form,is stored (120) as a customs planning record (122).

Persons of skill in the art will recognize immediately that clientdevices include workstations in kiosks in airports as well asworkstations installed in the back of a passenger chairs in airplanes.Typical embodiments of the invention utilize as client devices personalcomputers and hand-held personal data administrators. Other clientdevices useful with the present invention will occur to those of skillin the art, and all such client devices are well within the scope of thepresent invention.

In the embodiment illustrated, all of the communications between theclient device (104) and the international customs server (160),including for example the communications indicated by reference numbers(115), (116), (120), (124), (130), (134), and (135), are implementedthrough internet connections. In some embodiments the internetconnections are wireless. In some embodiments internet connections areimplemented through wired connections. As internet connections are onekind of network connection, other embodiments implement datacommunications between the client device and the international customsserver by use of intranets, internets, direct dial-up connections, ordedicated lines. Any means of data communication between the clientdevice and the international customs server are well within the scope ofthe present invention.

Moreover, it is useful to note that a client device in some embodimentsis not a client in the sense of traditional client-server architecturesbecause the international customs servers of the present invention areimplemented in typical embodiments as Web servers, HTTP servers, andclient devices are typically implemented with browsers. Becauseinternet-enablement is so typical among embodiments of the presentinvention, for convenience, this specification refers to a device usedby an importer to communicate with an international customs server as aclient device. In fact, the use of any device capable of implementing adata communications connection of any kind and communicating commands orrequests and receiving responses to and from an international customsserver is well within the scope of the present invention.

In typical embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 2, customsplanning records (122) comprise customs data describing goods forimport, the customs data including identification of importers,identification of destination countries, identification of countries oforigin, and identification of categories of goods. In embodiments of thekind illustrated, the international customs server (160) is a softwareapplication installed and operating on one or more computers, thesoftware application further comprising software routines for storing(120) and retrieving (128, 138) customs planning records, validating(132) goods described in customs planning records against customsregulations stored in customs regulations databases (114), andsubmitting (164) to customs databases (148) declaration forms (162)prepared in dependence upon (138) the customs planning records (122).

Embodiments of the kind illustrated typically include creating (136) independence upon customs planning records (122), declaration forms (162)for destination countries, as well as reading (138) customs data from acustoms planning record (122) and inserting (139) the read customs datainto a customs declaration form (162). Embodiments of the kindillustrated typically include submitting (164) the customs declarationform (162) to a customs declaration forms database (148) for thedestination country. In typical embodiments, submitting the declarationform includes communicating the form as electronic data communicationsthrough at least one data communications connection. In typicalembodiments, the data communications connection is an internetconnection.

Embodiments of the kind illustrated typically include a capability ofvalidating (132) the goods described in a customs planning record (122).In typical embodiments, validating goods described in a customs planningrecord includes comparing (133) the goods described by customs data inthe customs planning record (122) to customs regulations (114) governingthe goods described by the customs data in the customs planning recordand reporting (130) to the importer (102) through the client device(104) a result of the comparison. In some embodiments, validatingincludes storing (129) the result of the comparison in the customsplanning record.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a first aspect of the invention is seen embodiedas a system (100) for facilitating international customs planning andclearance. The illustrated embodiment comprises an international customsserver (160) where the international customs server itself includesmeans for creating and storing in response to signals (107) communicatedthrough client devices (104) master customs planning records (402) andrelated customs planning records (122). The illustrated embodimentincludes means for creating (160), in response to signals (107)communicated through client devices (104) master customs planningrecords (402) and related customs planning records (122) to be storedwithin an international customs server (160). The client devices intypical embodiments, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, are coupledfor data communications through an internet (105) to the internationalcustoms server (160). The international customs server is means forcreating master customs planning records and related customs planningrecords in that the server is a collection of computer programsinstalled and operating upon one or more computers including computerprocessors and computer memory. In the illustrated embodiment, theinternational customs server itself comprises master customs planningrecords (402), related customs planning records (122), customs planningrecord forms (118), customs regulations (114), and declaration forms(162).

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the customs regulations are customs rulesand regulations, organized by country, governing import and export ofgoods to and from countries. The customs planning record forms (118)comprise data structures containing data elements identifying andsetting forth information pertinent to customs clearance in destinationcountries. The customs planning record forms (118) in typicalembodiments are defined in dependence upon the customs regulations(114).

In the illustrated embodiment, the related customs planning records aredata structures that identify and describe a particular importation ofgoods into a destination country, an event of international customsplanning and clearance upon one occasion for an importer. The structureof the related customs planning records, that is, the data elementswithin the related customs planning records, are derived from thecustoms planning record forms (118). In the illustrated embodiment, thedeclaration forms (162) are official declaration forms prepared on-linewithin the international customs server using information entered by animporter into a related customs planning record.

In embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 4, the related customsplanning records are ‘related’ to master customs planning records (402).The related customs planning records in typical embodiments are‘related’ to master customs planning records (402) through one or moreforeign key fields containing data identifying the master customsplanning records to which related customs planning records are related.

FIG. 6 illustrates a more detailed embodiment of master customs planningrecords, related customs planning records, and the relationship betweenthem. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, at least one mastercustoms planning record (402) is related ‘one-to-many’ to one or morerelated customs planning records (122). The relationship in theillustrated embodiment is implemented through a master recordidentification code (630) in the master customs planning record and aforeign key field (610) in the related customs planning record. Themaster customs planning record include a duty total field (634) in whichis stored, in typical embodiments, a total amount of duty for one ormore of the related customs planning records to which a master customsplanning record is related. That is, in typical embodiments, relatedcustoms planning records include duty amount fields (622) in which isstored an amount of duty calculated for importation of goods describedin the related customs planning records, and a running total of theamounts of duty in a multiplicity of related customs planning records isstored in a duty total field in the master customs planning record towhich the related customs planning records are related.

The system embodiment as shown in FIG. 4 is capable of preparingdeclaration forms (162) on-line and forwarding them electronically to acustoms database (148) in a destination country. In typical embodiments,the electronic forwarding is accomplished via an internet (147).Declaration forms in a destination country's declaration forms databaseare available for use by customs personnel through customs workstations(152). Upon import of goods into a destination country, in typicalembodiments, a customs workstation is capable of forwarding a completedand approved electronic customs form to a central or national customsdatabase (154), such as, for example, the one known in the United Statesas “ACS,” the Automated Commercial System that the United States uses totrack, control, and process all commercial imports. As of this writing,the example ACS is scheduled in the United States for a massive upgradeknown as “ACE,” the Automated Commercial Environment.

System embodiments of the kind shown in FIG. 4 typically include acapability of submitting payment for duty. Such embodiments includemeans for paying duty to the country into which goods are to beimported. Such payments in typical embodiments are in effect prepaymentsof duty paid before the goods are physically imported into a destinationcountry. In typical embodiments, the duty is paid by use of any knownon-line payment means, including for example, on-line credit cardpayments. Some embodiments include printers coupled to client devicescapable of printing receipts for payments of duty. Most embodimentsrecord the duty payments in a customs database in a destination countryto which goods are to be imported.

Typical customs clearance facilities include passages for travelershaving nothing to declare. In order to audit the good faith of travelerswho represent that they have nothing to declare, customs agents randomlyselect for inspection luggage of travelers who are exiting throughpassages for travelers having nothing to declare. After paying or‘prepaying’ duty on-line, traveling importers, for example, clearcustoms by exiting a customs checkpoint through a passage for travelershaving nothing to declare. Traveling importers who, by use of anembodiment of the present invention, have prepaid duty on dutiable goodsfor import have in effect already cleared customs by declaring dutiablegoods and paying the duty. When such traveling importers are stopped forluggage checks and dutiable goods are discovered in their luggage, theduty on such goods has already been paid, evidenced by optional printedreceipts and data entries (407) in customs databases (154) accessible atcustoms checkpoints (152). In describing the operation of the inventionin terms of traveling importers, there is no limitation of the inventionto use by non-commercial importers. The invention is equally useful tocommercial importers as well as non-commercial importers.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, the client devices (104)in some embodiments are wireless devices; in other embodiments, clientdevices are coupled electronically to an international customs server.The client devices in various embodiments of the invention includeworkstations in kiosks at airports, workstations installed in the backsof passenger chairs in airplanes, personal computers, and hand-heldpersonal data administrators. Persons skilled in art will realize thatany device capable of functioning as a client or terminal to computerapplication software comprising a server, any device capable ofsupporting an internet connection, any device capable of supporting aweb client or browser in client-server environments or the environmentof the World Wide Web is useful as a client device within the scope ofthe present invention. In fact, there are many different kinds of suchdevices that will occur to those of skill in the art, and all of themuseful as described are well within the scope of the invention.

Turning now to FIG. 5, a first aspect of the invention is seenillustrated as a method for facilitating customs planning and clearance.In typical embodiments, the method includes creating (502) in aninternational customs server (160), in response to a signal (510)communicated through a client device (104) coupled for datacommunications through at least one internet connection to theinternational customs server, a master customs planning record (402). Intypical embodiments as illustrated in FIG. 6, the master customsplanning record includes a master identification field (630) in which isstored a master identity code for the master customs planning record,and a duty total field (634) in which is stored the total amount of dutyto be paid on goods identified in related customs planning records.

In typical embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 5, the methodalso includes creating (108) in an international customs server (160) arelated customs planning record (122), wherein the related customsplanning record is related through a foreign key field (610) to themaster customs planning record (402). In typical embodiments, asillustrated in FIG. 6, the related customs planning record includes theforeign key field (610) in which is stored the master identity code ofthe master customs planning record, one or more description fields (614,616, 618) describing the goods for import to a destination country, thedestination country having an identity, a duty amount field (622) inwhich is stored an amount of duty to be paid on the goods; and theidentity of the destination country (620).

In typical embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 5, the methodincludes calculating (420) duty on the goods described in the relatedcustoms planning record. In typical embodiments, the method alsoincludes storing the amount of the calculated duty in the duty amountfield in the related customs planning record. In typical embodiments,the method further includes incrementing (420), by the amount of thecalculated duty stored in the duty amount field in the related customsplanning record, the total amount of duty stored in the duty total fieldin the master customs planning record.

Embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 6 typically include one ormore fields describing goods for import in the related customs planningrecords. The fields used for describing goods for import typicallyinclude a text description field (614) in which is stored a textualdescription of the goods for import, a category field (616) in which isstored a code identifying the category of the goods for import; and aquantity field (618) in which is stored the quantity of goods forimport.

Turning back to FIG. 5, in typical embodiments of the invention eachrelated customs planning record typically represents a prospectiveimportation into a destination country of a quantity of goods of acategory. Typical embodiments of the kind illustrated include creating(136), in dependence upon the related customs planning record, a customsdeclaration form (162) for a destination country and submitting (164)the customs declaration form to a customs declaration forms database forthe destination country. Typical embodiments also include submitting(404), to the customs service (406) of the destination country, paymentof the duty.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, the client devices (104)can be wireless devices or they can be coupled electronically to theinternational customs server. The client devices in various embodimentsof the invention include workstations in kiosks at airports,workstations installed in the backs of passenger chairs in airplanes,personal computers, and hand-held data administrators. Persons skilledin the art will realize that any device capable of functioning as aclient or terminal to computer application software comprising a server,any device capable of supporting an internet connection, any devicecapable of supporting a web client or browser in client-serverenvironments or the environment of the World Wide Web is useful as aclient device within the scope of the present invention. In fact, thereare many kinds of such devices that will occur to those of skill in theart, and all of them useful as described are well within the scope ofthe invention.

In typical embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 6, the mastercustoms planning record further comprises an importer identificationfield (632) in which is stored an identity of an importer. In typicalembodiments, the related customs planning record further include animporter identification field (612) in which is stored an identity of animporter.

Turning back to FIG. 5, typical embodiments include an internationalcustoms server that is a software application installed and operating onone or more computers. The software application includes softwareroutines storing and retrieving related customs planning records,validating (132) goods described in related customs planning recordsagainst customs regulations stored in customs regulations databases, andsubmitting (164) to customs databases declaration forms prepared independence upon the related customs planning records.

Embodiments of the kind illustrated typically include creating independence upon the related customs planning record, a customsdeclaration form for the destination country, as well as reading customsdata from a related customs planning record and inserting the readcustoms data into a declaration form (138). Embodiments of the kindillustrated typically include submitting the customs declaration form toa customs declaration forms database for the destination country. Intypical embodiments, submitting the declaration form includescommunicating the form as electronic data communications through atleast one data communications connection. In typical embodiments, thedata communications connection is an internet connection.

Embodiments of the kind illustrated in FIG. 5 typically include acapability of validating (132) goods described in a related customsplanning record. In typical embodiments, validating the goods describedin the related customs planning records includes comparing (133) thegoods described by customs data in the related customs planning record(122) to customs regulations (114) governing the goods described by thecustoms data in the related customs planning record and reporting to animporter through the client device (104) a result of the comparison. Insome embodiments, validating includes storing (129) the result of thecomparison in the related customs planning record.

In typical embodiments of the kind illustrated, the related customsplanning record contains data elements needed to support customsclearance in the destination country because the related customsplanning record contains data elements derived from a related customsplanning record form (118) that is fashioned in dependence upon thecustoms regulations of the destination country.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a further aspect of the invention is illustratedin a use case. In an embodiment as shown in FIG. 3, an importer (102)uses a client device (104) to query (115) a customs regulations database(114) in an international customs server (160). The query (115) acceptsfrom the importer through the client device information describing aprospective importation of goods into a particular country, including,for example, category of goods (for example, food, ammunition, firearms,alcohol, or drugs), descriptions of goods, quantities of goods, countryof origin, and destination country. The query then reads a regulations(114) database in dependence upon the information describing aprospective importation of goods and advises the importer of the customsregulations for a destination country. If, for example, the importer istraveling with goods for import to the United States asserting a queryregarding rules for importing goods to the United States, the queryadvises the importer that the importer must submit a Customs DeclarationForm CF-6059B. If the importer has had goods shipped directly fromEngland to the importer's place of business in the United States, thequery advises the importer that the importer will need a Declaration OfUnaccompanied Articles, U.S. Customs Form CF-255. In typicalembodiments, the query advises the importer also of additional rules ofthe destination country regarding imports such as limitations regardingcountries of origin or particular categories of goods such as alcohol ortobacco. In typical embodiments, the query advises the importer alsowhether goods described in a query are dutiable, and if goods aredutiable, the rules for calculating the duty. In some embodiments, thequery also calculates and informs the importer of the amount of dutythat is payable on imports of certain quantities of goods in certaincategories of import. Alternatively to beginning with a query, theimporter proceeds directly to preparation (120) of a master customsplanning record (402) and at least one related customs planning record(122).

In the example use case as illustrated in FIG. 3, the importer (102)signals the international customs server to create (120) a mastercustoms planning record (402) within the international customs server(160). Creating (120) a master customs planning record (402) typicallyinvolves creating also at least one related customs planning record(122). In typical embodiments, a master customs planning recordrepresents a related group of prospective importations of goods, andrelated customs planning records represent prospective importations ofparticular goods or quantities of particular goods into particularcountries. For example, in a case where a traveling importer will visitseveral countries on a single trip, the traveling importer typicallywill create a master customs planning record to function as a headerrecord for imports associated with the trip and will also create severalrelated customs planning records representing prospective importation ofparticular goods into particular countries to which the travelingimporter will travel on the particular trip.

In typical usage, the importer decides based upon a query (115) that theimporter reasonably can expect to clear customs without difficulty inthe importer's destination country. The importer then signals creationof (120) a customs planning record (122) describing a goods to beimported, their countries of origin, their categories, whether the goodsare alcohol, tobacco, firearms, ammunition, drugs, medicines, and so on,and whatever other information is needed to support customs clearance inthe destination country. The customs planning record (122) contains dataelements needed to support customs clearance in the destination countrybecause the customs planning record contains data elements derived froma customs planning record form (118) that is fashioned in dependence(144) upon the customs regulations (114) for the destination country.

After creating a customs planning record describing the imports underconsideration, in typical usage of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3,the importer validates (124) the goods described in the customs planningrecord for likelihood of customs clearance in the destination country.The international customs server validates the goods described in thecustoms planning record by comparing (126) the information in thecustoms planning record with the information in the customs regulationsregarding imports to the destination country. Validating includesinforming (125) the importer through the client device whether theinformation provided by the importer in the customs planning record, ascompared with the customs regulations for the destination country,indicates any potential difficulties regarding the importer's importingparticular goods into the destination country. In many embodiments,validating (124) a prospective importation of goods includes calculatingthe duty payable upon importation. In other embodiments, dutycalculations are implemented independently of the validation process.Either way, typical embodiments support calculation of duty and storingof calculated duty in the related customs planning records. Typicalembodiments include also summing a total duty across a multiplicity ofrelated customs planning records and storing the amount of the totalduty in a total duty field in the master customs planning record towhich the multiplicity of related customs planning records are related.

Having queried the customs regulations (115), created a customs planningrecord (120), and validated (124) the goods described in the customsplanning record, the importer in typical usage has confidence that theimporter will be able to clear customs without unexpected exclusions orduties in the destination country. Alternatively, the importer decidesbased merely upon the query that the importer is reasonably likely tohave no difficulties with customs clearance in the destination countryand therefore proceeds to create and submit a declaration form withoutvalidating the customs planning record. Either way, if the importerdecides to proceed with the import in question, the importer in typicalusage orders through the client device the creation (134) and submission(146) to a declaration forms database (148) in the destination countryor port of entry an official on-line declaration form (162) for thedestination country.

As mentioned earlier, many embodiments calculated duty as part of thevalidation process. Other embodiments calculate duty as part ofpreparation of an on-line customs declaration form. Regardless when itis done in the overall process of the invention, typical embodiments doinclude calculation of duty, storing of calculated duty in relatedcustoms planning records, and summing calculated duty across relatedcustoms planning records for storage in a master customs planningrecord. Many embodiments, in support of import planning, includecapabilities of subtotaling duty across related customs planning recordsfor a particular category of goods, for a particular destinationcountry, or for other ways of organizing goods for subtotals acrossrelated customs planning records.

Having submitted a declaration form to the destination country, intypical usage, the importer then pays (404) any duty calculated to bedue on goods to be imported to the destination country to which adeclaration form has been submitted. The payment function (404) in theillustrated embodiment, functions in response to a signal (408) orinstruction from the client device (104), reads duty amounts fromrelated customs planning records (122), and submits (410) electronicpayment in electronic form to a destination country. In the illustratedembodiment of FIG. 3, electronic payment is submitted to the customsservice (406) in the destination country. In various embodiments,electronic payment takes the form of secure credit card payments, wiretransfers, or forms of payment specialized for the World Wide Web. Manyforms of electronic payment will occur to those of skill in the art, allof them being well within the scope of the present invention.

When the importer arrives (302) in the customs area at the port of entryin the destination country, a declaration form (162) is available tocustoms personnel on customs workstations (152), and any duty due ongoods imported by the importer is already paid. When the importer clearscustoms in the destination country, usage of the illustrated embodimentincludes available printing of the customs clearance receipts and formspertinent to the particular destination country. In the illustratedexample embodiment, the importer clears customs by simply walkingthrough the customs exit for persons with nothing to declare. If theimporter's baggage is caught by a random inspection, customs inspectorswill discover dutiable goods that have been declared as dutiable andupon which duty has already been paid.

In cases where an importer is confident of customs clearance withoutdifficulty in a destination country, as when for example the importerhas recently traveled to the destination country and therefore knowsthat the importer is unlikely to have goods denied importation or havegoods subjected to unexpected duties, then the importer typically doesnot effect a query (115) or a validation (124). In such cases, theimporter proceeds directly to creation (120) of a master customsplanning record (402) and at least one customs planning record (122) andcreation and submission of a declaration (162). In some embodiments ofthe invention, creating (134) a customs planning record automaticallytriggers (135) validation, so that importers can always be assured ofbeing informed of risks, if any, of encountering import difficulties inthe destination country.

In typical usage of embodiments of the inventions there is norequirement for the importer to touch a piece of paper, although theimporter naturally optionally prints a copy of the declaration and dutyreceipt if the importer wishes to do so. In usage of typicalembodiments, there is no need for an importer to wait until the importeris on an airplane nearly at a port of entry in the destination countrybefore filling out a declaration form. On the contrary, in typicalusage, importers prepare on-line and submit to customs databasesworldwide declaration forms and duty payments from anywhere in the worldor in outer space, so long as a data communications connection isavailable from a client device to an international customs server of thepresent invention. In usage of typical embodiments, there is no need foran importer to wait until the importer is on the ground in a port ofentry of a destination country to discover the importer's relativelikelihood of encountering unexpected exclusion of goods or unexpectedduties. In usage of typical embodiments, importers plan their imports byknowing in advance which goods are importable and what the duty on goodswill be. Importers in using the invention include or exclude imports andalter their purchasing plans according to the total amount of dutybudgeted by the importers for a trip or a period of time as comparedwith the total duty summed by use of the invention.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that variousmodifications and changes may be made in the various embodiment of thepresent invention without departing from its true spirit. It is intendedthat this description of exemplary embodiments is for purposes ofillustration only and should not be construed in a limiting sense. Thescope of this invention should be limited only by the language of thefollowing claims.

1. A system for facilitating customs planning and clearance, the systemcomprising: means for creating in an international customs server, inresponse to a signal communicated through a client device coupled fordata communications through at least one internet connection to theinternational customs server, a master customs planning record, whereinthe master customs planning record comprises: a master identificationField in which is stored a master identity code for the master customsplanning record, and a duty total field in which is stored the totalamount of duty to be paid on goods identified in related customsplanning records; means for creating in an international customs servera related customs planning record, wherein the related customs planningrecord is related through a foreign key field to the master customsplanning record, wherein the related customs planning record comprises:the foreign key held in which is stored the master identity code of themaster customs planning record; one or more description fieldsdescribing the goods for import to a destination country, thedestination country having an identity; a duty amount field in which isstored an amount of duty to be paid on the goods; and the identity ofthe destination country; means for calculating duty on the goodsdescribed in the related customs planning record; means for storing theamount of the calculated duty in the duty amount field in the relatedcustoms planning record; and means for incrementing, by the amount ofthe calculated duty stored in the duty amount field in the relatedcustoms planning record, the total amount of duty stored in the dutytotal field in the master customs planning record.
 2. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the one or more fields describing goods for import inthe related customs planning records comprise: a text description fieldin which is stored a textual description of the goods for import; acategory field in which is stored a code identifying the category of thegoods for import; and a quantity field in which is stored the quantityof goods for import.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein each relatedcustoms planning record represents a prospective importation into adestination country of a quantity of goods of a category.
 4. The systemof claim 1 further comprising means for creating, in dependence upon therelated customs planning record, a customs declaration form for adestination country.
 5. The system of claim 1 further comprising meansfor submitting the customs declaration form to a customs declarationforms database for the destination country.
 6. The system of claim 1further comprising means for submitting, to the customs service of thedestination country, payment of the duty.
 7. The system of claim 1wherein the client device is a workstation in a kiosk at an airport. 8.The system of claim 1 wherein the client device is a workstationinstalled in the back of a passenger chair in an airplane.
 9. The systemof claim 1 wherein the client device is a personal computer.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the client device is a hand-held personal dataadministrator.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least oneinternet connection is wireless.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein themaster customs planning record further comprises an importeridentification field in which is stored an identity of an importer. 13.The system of claim 1 wherein the related customs planning recordfurther comprises an importer identification field in which is stored anidentity of an importer.
 14. The system of claim 1 wherein theinternational customs server is a software application installed andoperating on one or more computers, the software application furthercomprising computer hardware and software comprising means for storingand means for retrieving related customs-planning records, means forvalidating goods described in related customs planning records againstcustoms regulations stored in customs regulations databases, and meansfor submitting to custom databases declaration forms prepared independence upon the related customs planning records.
 15. The system ofclaim 1 wherein means for creating in dependence upon the relatedcustoms planning record a customs declaration form for the destinationcountry further comprises means for reading customs data from a relatedcustoms planning record and means for inserting the read customs datainto a declaration form.
 16. The system of claim 1 wherein means forsubmitting the customs declaration form to a customs declaration formsdatabase for the destination country further comprises means forcommunicating the form as electronic data communications through atleast one internet connection.
 17. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising means for validating goods described in a related customsplanning record.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein means for validatingthe related customs planning records further comprises means forcomparing the goods described by customs data in the related customsplanning record to customs regulations governing the goods described bythe customs data in the related customs planning record and means forreporting to an importer through the client device a result of thecomparison.
 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising means forstoring the result of the comparison in the related customs planningrecord.
 20. The system of claim 1 wherein the related customs planningrecord comprises a related customs planning record form having astructure, wherein the structure of the related customs planning recordform is dependent upon customs regulations.
 21. A computer programproduct for facilitating customs planning and clearance, the computerprogram product comprising: a recording medium; means, recorded on therecording medium, for creating in an international customs server, inresponse to a signal communicated through a client device coupled fordata communications through at least one internet connection to theinternational customs server, a master customs planning record, whereinthe master customs planning record comprises: a master identificationfield in which is stored a master identity code for the master customsplanning record, and a duty total field in which is stored the totalamount of duty to be paid on goods identified in related customsplanning records; means, recorded on the recording medium, for creatingin an international customs server a related customs planning record,wherein the related customs planning record is related through a foreignkey field to the master customs planning record, wherein the relatedcustoms planning record comprises: the foreign key field in which isstored the master identity code of the master customs planning record;one or more description fields describing the goods for import to adestination country, the destination country having an identity; a dutyamount field in which is stored an amount of duty to be paid on thegoods; and the identity of the destination country; means, recorded onthe recording medium, for calculating duty on the goods described in therelated customs planning record; means, recorded on the recordingmedium, for storing the amount of the calculated duty in the duty amountfield in the related customs planning record; and means, recorded on therecording medium, for incrementing, by the amount of the calculated dutystored in the duty amount field in the related customs planning record,the total amount of duty stored in the duty total field in the mastercustoms planning record.
 22. The computer program product of claim 21wherein the one or more fields describing goods for import in therelated customs planning records comprise: a text description field inwhich is stored a textual description of the goods for import; acategory field in which is stored a code identifying the category of thegoods for import; and a quantity field in which is stored the quantityof goods for import.
 23. The computer program product of claim 21wherein each related customs planning record represents a prospectiveimportation into a destination country of a quantity of goods of acategory.
 24. The computer program product of claim 21 furthercomprising means, recorded on the recording medium, for creating, independence upon the related customs planning record, a customsdeclaration form for a destination country.
 25. The computer programproduct of claim 21 further comprising means, recorded on the recordingmedium; for submitting the customs declaration form to a customsdeclaration forms database for the destination country.
 26. The computerprogram product of claim 21 further comprising means, recorded on therecording medium, for submitting, to the customs service of thedestination country, payment of the duty.
 27. The computer programproduct of claim 21 wherein the client device is a workstation in akiosk at an airport.
 28. The computer program product of claim 21wherein the client device is a workstation installed in the back of apassenger chair in an airplane.
 29. The computer program product ofclaim 21 wherein the client device is a personal computer.
 30. Thecomputer program product of claim 21 wherein the client device is ahand-held personal data administrator.
 31. The computer program productof claim 21 wherein the at least one internet connection is wireless.32. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein the master customsplanning record further comprises an importer identification field inwhich is stored an identity of an importer.
 33. The computer programproduct of claim 21 wherein the related customs planning record furthercomprises an importer identification field in which is stored anidentity of an importer.
 34. The computer program product of claim 21wherein the international customs server is a software applicationinstalled and operating on one or more computers, the softwareapplication further comprising computer hardware and software comprisingmeans, recorded on the recording medium, for storing and means, recordedon the recording medium, for retrieving related customs planningrecords, means, recorded on the recording medium, for validating goodsdescribed in related customs planning records against customsregulations stored in customs regulations databases, and means, recordedon the recording medium, for submitting to customs databases declarationforms prepared in dependence upon the related customs planning records.35. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein means, recorded onthe recording medium, for creating in dependence upon the relatedcustoms planning record a customs declaration form for the destinationcountry further comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, forreading customs data from a related customs planning record and means,recorded on the recording medium, for inserting the rend customs datainto a declaration form.
 36. The computer program product of claim 21wherein means, recorded on the recording medium, for submitting thecustoms declaration form to a customs declaration forms database for thedestination country further comprises means, recorded on the recordingmedium, for communicating the form as electronic data communicationsthrough at least one internet connection.
 37. The computer programproduct of claim 21 further comprising means, recorded on the recordingmedium, for validating goods described in a related customs planningrecord.
 38. The method of claim 37 wherein means, recorded on therecording medium, for validating the related customs planning recordsfurther comprises means, recorded on the recording medium, for comparingthe goods described by customs data in the related customs planningrecord to customs regulations governing the goods described by thecustoms data in the related customs planning record and means, recordedon the recording medium, for reporting to an importer through the clientdevice a result of the comparison.
 39. The method of claim 38 furthercomprising means, recorded on the recording medium, for storing theresult of the comparison in the related customs planning record.
 40. Thecomputer program product of claim 21 wherein the related customsplanning record comprises a related customs planning record form havinga structure, wherein the structure of the related customs planningrecord form is dependent upon customs regulations.